


Creatura / Exitium

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: AU, Blood, Character Death, Convoluted Headcanons, F/M, Fake Yu-Gi-Oh Cards, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Oneshot collection, Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU, Smut, Uncomfortable Flirting, Zarc is Yusho and Yoko's son and Yuya's brother, mentions of sexy times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-04 15:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10281821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: "Somewhere in the echoes of destruction, I'm sure you loved me once.  And somewhere in the shadows of creation, I think I love you still."Collection of disconnected oneshots for ZarcRay week





	1. Lotus / Lilium

**Author's Note:**

> so for shipping weeks I normally try to like, connect everything somehow and make it all cool and artistic but ya know what this week I'm already starting three days behind and I just wanna dump like, all of my ZarcRay headcanons and AUs in this one, so there's like no connection between any of these at all, it's just a bunch of ZarcRay which I'm sure is all the shippers care about lol
> 
> ANYWAY
> 
> go read it, it's fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt was "First Meeting" and it also includes some of my made up monsters for Ray.
> 
> Alternate title for this chapter: Dragons make horrible wingmen

His dragons were, as always, needy bitches.

 _Zarc.  Zarc, let’s go.  Let’s gooo_.

“Excuse me, but what the fuck do you think I’m doing right now?” Zarc hissed at Odd-Eyes.  Odd-Eyes hummed excitedly at the back of Zarc’s head, more like an anxious puppy than a ten-foot tall dragon.

Zarc peeked around the corner.  The stadium was empty at this time of the week; no duels were scheduled on Mondays for regular Solid Vision maintenance.  However, Zarc had gotten the schedule down to a T, and he knew exactly what hours the workers would take off for their lunches.  The stadium was completely closed and empty from noon to two pm, which meant it was free.  Dueling wasn’t enough for his needy dragons, and if he was honest, it wasn’t really enough for him, either—Real Solid Vision was new, and the promise of actually getting to _touch_ the dragons whose voices he had heard almost all his life was all too tempting.

 _Zaaaaarc_ , Clear Wing whined.  _Come on, my wings are itchy, I want you to scratch them._

“Give me two seconds, god,” he muttered.

 _You’re all absolutely hopeless_ , Starve Venom said with a sniff.

 _Don’t give us that, you’re more excited than all of us put together,_ Dark Rebellion said.  _You’ve been twitching your tail all day._

Zarc rolled his eyes—they never shut up, not for two seconds.

After reassuring himself that the coast definitely was clear, Zarc slipped down the hallway and into the stadium.  The next step would be making his way down to the lower level of seats, and then picking the lock on the system control door and manually resetting the system so that it would come online.  Then Zarc could let the dragons out in the stadium, and they could run around and tire themselves out.  It was like taking the dogs to the dog park, only with more breaking and entering.  God, Zarc really hoped that rumor that they were developing portable RSV for Duel Disks was true.  It would make his life a hell of a lot easier.

“…and then you come around from the other side and catch me.”

Zarc froze as a voice floated up from somewhere inside the stadium.  What—it wasn’t empty??

Crouching so that he could duck behind the seats, Zarc crept into the stadium, peering down into the bowl.

The system was already on, he saw with surprise, with a futuristic city field glowing down below.  A shape crouched on top of one of the very tallest buildings—from this distance, Zarc couldn’t quite see, but they looked to be about his height, maybe about his age, too.  They stood up then, dark maroon pigtails falling over their shoulders, the light catching across their bright pink goggles.  She looked kind of familiar, but from this distance, he wasn’t sure.

“On three,” the feminine voice called.  “One, two, three!”

Zarc’s breath caught as she simply leapt off the top of the building.  What was she thinking??  That was almost forty feet up!  She was gonna—

She wasn’t even halfway down when a shape spun past, catching her by the hands as though she were grabbing a trapeze and swinging her down to the next tallest building.  The girl hit the ground and rolled perfectly, coming to a skidding stop and back up to her feet with her hands up in a broad, performative gesture.  Zarc’s lips parted as he noted the Action Card she had snagged in the middle of her roll, poised between her fingers and ready to use.

“Perfect!” she said, a huge smile exploding over her face.  “Nice catch, Gale!”

“You’re going to give me a heart attack with that routine,” another voice floated up from the bottom.

“Oh, like Gale would drop me?” the girl said, leaning over the building as she pushed her goggles up onto her forehead.  “I’m ashamed of you for not believing in your comrade.”

The shape that had caught the girl zipped down, hovering beside her.  She was a tiny girl in long, shimmering white and pale blue robes, with a bell around her neck, her poofy, mint green hair in one big round ponytail behind her with the rest of it allowed to curl around her shoulders.  She perched on top of a crystalline broomstick like a witch, sticking her tongue out at whoever stood below.  Zarc recognized that monster.  _Ice Gale Synchro Knight_.  He had seen it in action before, it belonged to…

Zarc found himself flushing slightly.  _Akaba Ray_.

 “I’d never drop Ray, you know that Moony!” she said.

“Call me that again and I’ll cut your ears off,” the voice shouted back up.

“Only if you can catch me first!”

Akaba Ray—because it couldn’t be anyone else—rolled her eyes and shook her head with a half smirk. Zarc was barely understanding what he was seeing.  He had seen people come practice here before, watching from the high seats just to get a feel for other duelists, but never like this.  She was…she was talking to them like they were real.  And they were talking _back_.

Was she…?

“Stop bickering,” she said with a laugh.  “Honestly.”

Odd-Eyes hummed with excitement at the back of Zarc’s head.

_This looks like fun, Zarc, let’s go play with them._

“What?” Zarc hissed.  “No, we can’t!”

_Why nooot??  It looks like fun, and she’s talking to her monsters; that must mean she’s like you, Zarc!_

“No,” Zarc said, shoulders hunching.  “We’re leaving, guys.”

 _What??  But we just got here!!_ Clear Wing said.

 _Excuse me, but I thought we were going to get a chance to stretch our wings outside of a duel,_ Starve Venom said.

 _Just go ask if you can practice too,_ Dark Rebellion said.  _She seems nice_.

 _Hey, isn’t that the one you have a poster of—_ Odd-Eyes started.

“Shut _up_ ,” Zarc hissed, feeling his cheeks go red.

And then, inexplicably, Ray looked up.  Zarc swore, ducking behind a seat.  Had she seen him??  Oh _fuck_ , Ray was the daughter of the man who had created RSV, so she had a right to be in here, but he was _trespassing_.

A faint whistle echoed briefly, and Zarc hesitated.  What was that?

“What are you doing down there?”

Zarc jumped, hitting his head against the back of one of the seats.  He swore, gripping his head.  Fuck, she _had_ seen him, he was gonna get the shit chewed out of him—

“Are you okay?  Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He glanced up quickly—she didn’t… _look_ mad, she actually looked pretty guilty, hands half outstretched as though to check on him.

“I—I’m fine,” he said.  “I wasn’t trying to sneak around—”

 _It’s totally the girl in his poster,_ Odd-Eyes said.  _She’s got the same goggles—_

“Oh my god, shut up,” Zarc said, trying to keep the flush out of his cheeks.  Ray blinked and he bit the inside of his cheek hard—oh fuck, he couldn’t believe he had just talked to his dragons in front of her—

But her eyes flickered upwards, as though looking at something that Zarc couldn’t see, and then back down at him.

“Can you…hear them?” she said.

His lips parted slightly, mostly at the hopeful shine in her eyes.

“Can you see them?” he said.  “The dragons?”

She nodded.

“That’s—kind of how I knew you were over here,” she said, half smiling.  “But—you can really hear them?”

“All the time, every day, they never shut up,” Zarc grumbled.

Ray actually snorted, covering her mouth quickly with one hand.

“Don’t I know that feel,” she said.

“Hey!!” Ice Gale Synchro Knight said, hovering beside Ray—that must have been how she got over here so quickly.  “I take offense to that!”

 _Yeah, we’re not that loud_ , Clear Wing said.  _Don’t be mean in front of new people, Zarc!_

Ray snorted again, and then a laugh rolled out of her.  Zarc found a smile growing over his face too, and then he was laughing.  Nothing was even all that funny, but—but he couldn’t stop, and she didn’t seem to be able to either.

 _What??_ Clear Wing said. _What did I say??_

 _You didn’t say anything, I think the humans are flirting_ , Starve Venom said.  _Gross._

“Oy, you, shut up,” Zarc said, blushing again.

Ray giggled again, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “What a way to start out, huh?”

She extended a hand towards him.

“I’m Ray.  Akaba Ray.”

“I figured that much,” Zarc said, taking her hand and letting her help him to his feet.  “I’m Sakaki Zarc.”

“I did recognize you,” Ray said.  “We’re in the same circuit.”

“Y-yeah.  Never actually talked to you before, though.”

Ray’s smile shone over her face, and Zarc found his face getting hot again.

 _She’s prettier in real life than in your poster,_ Dark Rebellion said.

“Oh my god, shut up about the stupid poster,” Zarc groaned. 

“It’s fine,” a new voice floated across the way, and Zarc glanced over to see another one of Ray’s knight monsters hopping up the stairs.  She was about Ray’s height with deep magenta hair in a thick braid over her shoulder, dark against her gleaming golden armor etched with lilies and roses.  That was…Summer Blossom Knight, if he remembered correctly.  “She’s got one of you too.  The one with you on Odd-Eyes.”

“Oh my god, no,” Ray said, her face flushing too.  “Summer, no.”

“I didn’t even know I had posters,” Zarc said, trying to laugh off the awkwardness.

Ray laughed a little nervously now, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Wow, uh…they’re a handful, right?  The monsters?” she said.  “I’m—really surprised you can hear them though.  I’ve never met anyone before that could…”

“I haven’t either,” Zarc said.  “I had no idea there _were_ others.”

 _Zarc, if you would be so kind as to pause flirting, I would really like to have some time as a corporeal being_ , Starve Venom said.

 _I want to plaaaaaaay!!!!_ Odd-Eyes whined.

“Oh my god, you’re all so fucking _needy_ ,” Zarc said.

Ray laughed.

“Well—if you want to join us down here, I think my girls would love to meet your dragons,” Ray said.  “We can talk about how annoying they are.”

“Hey!” Ice Gale said.

Zarc laughed.

“Sounds like fun to me,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title means: "Lotus/Lily." Lotuses are associated with rebirth, and lilies are a common funeral flower.


	2. Ciconia / Corvus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: enemies
> 
> they weren't supposed to end up like this.
> 
> what went wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this chapter is???? it's kinda.....it plays into a fuck ton of headcanons i have about the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise as a whole, so it might not make any sense buuuut....honestly this collection is just gonna end up being more self-indulgent than previous shipping week projects since I don't have a full handle on my ZarcRay thoughts yet.
> 
> anyway this is just me rambling at this point i just wanted to give readers a heads up about how this might not make a lick of sense. Also, bit of a cameo by a pair of OCs of mine???? so like......yeah, anyway, that's all you need to know lol

“In every era,” she said. “There's a king.”

She tapped the globe, spinning it around on it's stand. It was an odd thing, nothing at all like an ordinary world globe. For one thing, it was made out of a clear glass, etched with softly stained colors in the shapes of continents that were like none the Earth had ever seen. Another globe nested inside the first, and another inside of that. With the way the light played off of the glass from crack in the thick curtains, it was impossible to see just how many glass globes laid inside each other like a set of nesting dolls.

She spun it again, and each layer spun at its own speed.

“At the beginning of the first war of creation, the gods of light and darkness gave up themselves, and they became a soul of light and darkness. They passed that soul to the first King, who brought an end to the war, and peace to the twelve dimensions.”

She looked up from the globe—the light caught the color of her one visible iris, a pure, cerulean blue. She sighed, pushing back her bangs briefly from her face. They immediately flopped back down over her left eye, the single white streak glowing faintly in the sunlight.

“Can I ask why you're repeating that story to yourself?”

She glanced back to see the speaker, who stood almost in shadow, save for the single cut of light that illuminated her pale face and even paler hair, one green eye sparkling against the light.

The black haired girl sighed and cocked her head.

“The soul that the goddesses made was called the King's soul, and it's existence would maintain the world's balance. Each King would find a suitable successor and pass the soul down to them—they would know who the universe had chosen to succeed them just by being in their presence.”

“Yes, which is why you're the King now,” the white haired girl said, tilting her head. “You received it from your predecessor. Why the narration?”

Her lips parted then, and her eyes narrowed briefly.

“Have you...have you sensed your successor? Have you found the one whose soul can accept the King's soul from you?”

The black haired girl sighed softly, standing up and walking to the window, pushing the curtain open a little more so she could look through.

“Pandora,” she said. “Do you know what I'm supposed to do if there are _two_ of them?”

* * *

“Oh _shit_ , I'm sorry, Ray.”

Ray shook her head, dabbing at the spilled smoothie on the front of her shirt with a napkin.

“It's fine,” she said, shaking her head. “That guy jostled you. Not your fault.”

Zarc still looked concerned, one hand hovering as though he was going to try and wipe it off himself. She smacked his hand lightly.

“You don't get to touch there when we're in public,” she said.

He stuck his tongue out at her briefly.

“What, you mean you _don't_ want my tongue on you? That's a first.”

Ray squealed with indignation, smacking him on the shoulder.

“You're a _pervert_ , oh my god,” she said, trying to hide her grin. “I have half a mind to make you sleep on the floor tonight.”

He faked clutching at his chest as though she had just stabbed him, making a dramatic half fall to the floor.

“You wound me,” he moaned.

“Drama queen,” she muttered, and he popped back up with his characteristic grin.

It was a warm day, the spring having come a few weeks early. The entire city seemed to have emerged for the weather, the park and outdoor cafes absolutely crammed with people, children running around and weaving underfoot. There were at least three duels going on with people crowding around them, whoops and cheers coming up from the mob.

“Don't you want to go make yourself busy with that?” Ray asked, gesturing towards the duels. “I'm sure your dragons would love a chance to stretch their wings.”

“Nah, this is my time with _you_ and they know that.”

His nose briefly wrinkled.

“Although _some_ of them might do well to stop _pestering_ me.”

Ray had to giggle—her own monsters were mercifully quiet for the day, and she had a feeling it was due to Summer telling them all to give her some space on her date.

“Odd-Eyes or Clear Wing?” she said.

“Venom,” he said, rolling his eyes. “He won't stop saying inappropriate things.”

“Oh, well you know where he gets it, right?” Ray said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Are you insinuating I am a bad dragon daddy?”

Ray flicked his nose briefly and he laughed—it brought a smile to her face, too. Zarc's smile could light up an entire room, or even the entire world, she thought. And it was reaching so many people lately—he had started to get even more popular than her in the dueling circuits, and she was only a _little_ jealous. Mostly just because sometimes, she wanted Zarc's smile all to herself.

He grabbed her hand before she could pull it away, briefly letting his lips brush her fingers.

“We are in _public_ ,” Ray said, but she giggled as the blush crossed her cheeks.

“Don't pretend you don't like it,” Zarc said, bumping her hips with his.

She just laughed, and let her hand curl up into his, her head falling on his shoulder as they kept walking down through the park, smoothies mostly unspilled.

“It's so nice today,” she said. “I wish we could have quiet days like this forever, don't you?”

“I might get bored,” he said, teasing. “Nah, really, though...it's nice.”

Ray sighed against him, briefly closing her eyes.

Zarc stopped, then, though, and Ray opened her eyes to see why.

A woman stood in front of them, her arms folded against her chest. She looked about the age of Ray's father, maybe in her late thirties, early forties at most. Her hair was a wild mess, so dark a black that it seemed to be eating the light out of the world around her, with exactly one pure white stripe in her bangs. Only one of her eyes was visible through her shaggy bangs, and it was a pure, clear blue, like the sky overhead.

She pursed her lips, eyes flickering back and forth between Ray and Zarc.

“Um?” Zarc said. “Excuse me? Do you have a problem?”

The woman blew out once between her lips.

“I might,” she said. “Hmph. It really is both of you. That's unexpected. Huh. At least the two of you are on good terms.”

“Excuse me, but what are you talking about?” Ray said, lifting her head off of Zarc's shoulder. “Are you harassing us?”

The woman actually laughed briefly.

“Not yet,” she said. “Hm. Nah. Both of you just hang tight. I'm gonna have to figure this out.”

She turned on her heel and started to walk away. Zarc and Ray glanced at each other, and Ray was sure her confusion was mirrored in Zarc's eyes.

The woman stopped very abruptly, and spun around.

“Both of you hang tight to each other, you hear? Don't go getting separated or anything—take care of each other. This is probably going to be a mess if you don't.”

And then she was turning around and marching off again, disappearing quickly behind a mass of high schoolers running across the path.

“What the fuck was that about?” Zarc said, leaning down to take a long sip of his smoothie.

Ray felt a strange, nervous tingle running over the back of her neck. It didn't mean anything, right? She was probably just...drunk, or something. Weirdoes, getting drunk in the middle of the day.

Still, she tightened her hand on Zarc's—enough that Zarc jumped a bit, blinking and looking across at her. Concern furrowed his brown.

“Hey,” he said, smiling gently. “It's okay. That didn't mean anything. You're not actually upset, are you?”

Ray just kept her hand tight on his. She leaned up for a quick kiss.

“Don't disappear,” she said. “Promise me that.”

Zarc smiled and shook his head.

“I'd never,” he said.

* * *

This wasn't happening. Oh my god, this wasn't happening.

Ray's knees shook as she watched the city burn. She couldn't breathe, and it wasn't because of the smoke.

Zarc. Zarc. Zarc.

“Gods,” she heard a voice swore. “I had no idea he—where did he get all of that power?”

Ray whirled on her heels. She thought she should be surprised to see the woman with the messy black hair, but she wasn't. The woman looked pale as she stared at the huge, looming shadow of the dragon in the distance.

“Who _are_ you?” Ray whispered, desperately. “Did you—did you know this was goinjg to happen?”

The woman jumped a bit, as though she hadn't noticed that Ray was there. Her face changed, lips parting and brow furrowing with concern as she saw who it was. She slid down from the pile of debris she had been standing on, jogging over to Ray.

“What happened?” she said. “I turned around for like...two minutes and...”

Ray shook her head, her eyes sliding back over to the dragon. To Zarc.

“Who are you?” she whispered again, desperately, but she wasn't sure if she was asking the woman, or if she was asking Zarc himself.

The woman's eyes softened, and she looked down.

“I'm the one that was supposed to prevent things like this from ever happening,” she said. “And you...and him...were the ones supposed to succeed me.”

Her hands curled into fists.

“I let myself get too confused—there's never been two successors at once before. I should have...I should have taken both of you with me right away, to teach you what was supposed to happen but...”

She shook her head again, looking so frustrated that her fists were shaking.

“I had no idea—I had no idea he would be this powerful without the second soul, I didn't know something like this would be possible—”

Ray had no idea what was happening. The world was just—confusion. Twisting swirling horrible confusion. She hated everything. She hated this woman with her confusing words that made no sense about things that Ray had no knowledge of, she hated the sky with its too dark sky and the city that wasn't supposed to be burning—

She hated Zarc, who had turned into something she didn't recognize anymore.

Who had disappeared from her after promising not to.

“So?” the woman said suddenly, breaking through Ray's reverie. “What are you going to do?”

“What?” Ray whispered.

“He's your ally...more than that,” the woman said, tilting her head. “Are you going to join him? Change the world the way he is? Protect him from the things that are trying to stop him?”

Ray's eyes slid across to the looming shadow of Zarc, of the dragon. She saw the light flashing and burning and heard faint screams in the distance, the whine of helicopters zooming towards him. She swallowed, feeling sick.

She thought about the cards she knew her father was finishing in the basement laboratory under her feet. The cards that could destroy him.

The cards that could destroy her.

She turned her eyes back to the woman.

“Were we supposed to be?” she whispered. “Allies, I mean? Were we supposed to be?”

The woman's eyes were incredibly sad.

“Yes,” she said. “The best.”

Ray closed her eyes, her throat closing up.

When she opened them again, her tears were gone.

“I guess there's no time to think about what we were supposed to be,” she said.

The woman sighed—and before Ray could do anything, she stepped forward, cupping Ray's face in her hands, pressing her forehead to Ray's.

“We unfortunately don't have time for a proper ceremonial duel,” she said. “But I can give you this much.”

Her breath tickled Ray's face and she froze up—what was the woman doing?

“ _My soul become yours, the birthright be given up,”_ the woman whispered, and the words vibrated, resonated with such power that Ray's entire core shook and she felt something in her twist—

When she opened her eyes, the woman was gone.

And underneath her own skin, a powerful buzzing sensation _pulsed_.

“ _Unfortunately, since he's a successor, he gets part of the soul too when I do that,”_ she heard the woman whisper past her ear. _“But you should be able to take him out.”_

The voice disappeared on the wind and Ray wondered if it had ever been there at all. But there was a power in her veins that hadn't been there before, and with it, came a determination.

She turned on her heel and ran.

The cards would be done, and her father would be planning to use them.

But she would be the one to use them first.

 _We weren't supposed to be enemies_ , she thought.

_But this is where we ended up._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ciconia / Corvus = Stork / Crow
> 
> Storks are associated with birth due to the myth that they deliver babies to families, and crows are associated with death due to their being carrion birds who are often seen on battlefields


	3. Aura / Procella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: sacrifice
> 
> Oh, he thought. So this is what it had felt like to watch him go mad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for lots of blood mentions

_Oh_ , he thought. _So this is how it felt, to watch me go mad._

Ray clawed at his face, wild, her hands smeared with blood, a scream curled up in her throat. He gasped, blood bubbling up out of his own throat, his arms tight around her—one hand wrapped around the sword that impaled her from behind, the sword that buried through her stomach and up into him, just below his own heart.

He flopped one hand up for her face, trying to cup it, trying to press his own face against her neck, but she wouldn't stop screaming.

“ _LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO”_

Her screaming just made the blood choke her faster, and neither of them could stand anymore. They had to fall together, the sword piercing them both and pinning them against each other. He held her tight, cupping her head against his so that it wouldn't hit the ground too hard. He almost laughed at the irony. They...they were both...gonna die anyway...

She was crying. Oh god...she was crying...

He couldn't see very well anymore, reaching for her face just to feel something—inches from his, her tears filled her pale violet eyes as her hands continued to scrabble for his face, too, the tears bubbling down her cheeks and smearing with the blood that he had smudged across her cheeks.

The entire world felt completely silent. Nothing at all like the horrible, screeching winds that had cut across this battlefield, cracking the ground underneath the feet of a thousand duelists with their ferocity as writhing, thorny vines sprouting with roses crawled out of the ground to throttle unsuspecting victims and fling others skyward. Nothing like the shrieking of long clawed birds that had filled the sky, so thick that they blotted out the sun, darting and diving at any duelist foolish enough to try and defy the demon queen.

Now, only Ray's dark moon remained, the last remained crescent of light hanging upside down in the sky.

The entire world was silent.

The entire world was just them.

Her hands were getting weaker, her claws barely grazing his skin. Her tears were staining the ground underneath her, mixing with the puddle of blood—he wasn't sure if it was mostly hers, or his anymore.

Breathing was getting harder.

“I'm—sorry,” he mumbled, his words choked with the blood in his mouth.

Things blurred together, the only thing that was still real was her face against his hand, his thumb running back and forth over her cheeks—and the cold, biting metal that pierced them together. He didn't even...remember exactly how they had gotten here. He remembered becoming a demon himself. He remembered Ray dragging him back, after what felt like eons.

He didn't remember what had made her become a demon this time.

He didn't remember why the cards that had stopped him wouldn't work against her.

Didn't remember where he had even gotten the fucking sword.

He remembered, though, walking towards her. Her, standing with her head tilted up towards the sky, her sweaty loose hair matted against her face and over her eyes, skin pale and smudged with dirt and blood, the blood under her nails—claws—the way her skin seemed to crack and peel as though it were made of cracked earth rather than flesh. He remembered her bloodshot eyes whipping to him, wide and wild as he called her name. Remembered the smile that broke across her face, the way she reached out to him. Remembered the horror that spread through his chest even as he forced a smile in return, realizing all at once that this is how it had felt. This is how it had felt for her to watch him turn into a monster in front of her eyes.

This is how much it had hurt.

“ _Please,” she whispered. “Please, come here, Zarc, I love you, I understand now, I understand—it feels so good, Zarc, I get it now...please, let's finish it, let's finish this together.”_

“ _Yeah,”_ he had whispered back. _“Let's finish it.”_

He remembered holding her, wrapping his arms around her as tight as he could, her face against his neck, breathing ticklish, gentle winds against his skin, remembered the beautiful, warm bulk of her body against his, her cool hands trailing down the back of his neck.

He remembered lifting the sword behind her back, and plunging it up through her and him all at once.

He couldn't see—he wasn't sure if that was because of the tears, or because he was dying. The only thing that remained in his sight was her face, her beautiful, beautiful face.

She didn't seem to be able to breathe anymore, either, choking on the blood that dribbled through her lips.

“Ray,” he mumbled. “Ray...I love you...”

He felt the strength draining out of his wrist. He couldn't keep it up on her cheek anymore. It was sliding, sliding down off of her...

Her hand flopped upwards, grabbed his hand, pinned it down against her cheek. His eyes opened, briefly, just a little bit clearer for just a little bit longer.

Her eyes were clear. No slit pupils, no horrible demonic glow. Just Ray. It was just Ray.

“I'm s-orry,” she gasped through bubbles of blood. “Z-zarc...p-please...d-don't....die...n-not f-for st-stupid m-me...p—lease.”

Laughing made him lose blood more, made his body rock against the sword impaled through his chest, but he had to, he had to laugh, because—it was her. She was here...one last time....he got to see her one last time...

He tried to curl his fingers into cheek to let her know that he had heard him—words were hard, and getting harder.

“I'm—sorry,” he mumbled. “B-but I can't....can't keep...can't live...not without—you.”

She closed her eyes, sobbing, more tears rolling in waves down her cheeks.

“Love—you,” Zarc mumbled.

“Love you,” Ray mumbled back, her eyes fluttering open. “Don't—let—go. Please.”

He had just enough strength left to drag his head across the space, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I won't...” he mumbled. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

They closed their eyes as one, their hands curling one last time into each other.

Zarc had to smile one last time at the end.

He had...gotten to see her...one last time...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aura / procella = breeze / storm


	4. Solstitium / Eclipsim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: history

“Remember that time you said that I couldn't get pregnant with you because you're a demon, and human and demon biology is incompatible?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, well, I think you were wrong.”

Zarc spat out his water so incredibly comically that if they had been in another situation, Ray would have fallen over laughing.

But, as it was, she was in a bitchy, I'm-pregnant-and-the-morning-sickness-is-already-killing-me mood instead. She dug her fingers into her hips, groaning softly as she half bent over.

Zarc, in the meantime, wiped off his lips with the back of his scaly hand, his eyes so wide that Ray was almost surprised they didn't fall right out of his head.

He was taller than her, but only by a few hairs. As far as demons went, he was fairly human in shape and appearance, bipedal with hands and feet and a human face. But thick, silvery scales covered most of his arms, legs, and torso, creeping up to the base of his neck where a softer, fleshier gray colored his face (and other, more intimate parts, as Ray had learned firsthand). His eyes were a softly glowing yellow, inhuman with slit pupils, and, as Ray knew quite intimately, his teeth were more fangs than a humans would be.

But despite that (and the wings that he kept folded to his back. And the thick, scaly dragon tail that flipped back and forth when he was nervous. And the weird way that his gray and green hair stuck up in a way that it shouldn't without any kind of added help), he looked human. And he _functioned_ like a human too.

“That's not possible,” Zarc said, staring at her. “Literally—it's not possible. You must just be sick.”

“Tell that to the baby bump,” Ray said, groaning as she rubbed her stomach. “And the fact that I haven't had my period in two months.”

Zarc put down the glass of water he had just spat all over the floor onto her dresser, his hands opening and closing on thin are helplessly, as though not sure what to do. Ray groaned again as she felt another wave of nausea, sitting down on her bed.

“You're—you're sure?” Zarc said, eyes wide. “This is—really not supposed to happen.”

Ray found her lips twisting in a frown, glancing up at him under her bangs.

“Are you upset?” she said.

Zarc blinked at her. Then his face changed and he stepped forward quickly, grabbing her hands in his.

“No!” he said. “I'm not—I'm just—this isn't—”

He fumbled for a minute.

“It was—unexpected??” he said. “And—technically impossible. Are you—you're sure you're _human,_ right?”

Ray rose an eyebrow at him and extracted one hand from his grip so that she could turn it back and forth in front of him, showing off the very ordinary pinkish-pale flesh.

“R-right,” Zarc said. “Um—maybe this is a bad time to ask this, but I'm the only one you've been sleeping with, right? Not that I'd be mad, I mean, I never said we were exclusive or anything but just to check off any other possibilities—”

“Oh please,” Ray said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “As if I would have the _energy_ to sleep with someone else after two minutes with your crazy ass.”

Zarc raised his hands up apologetically, half smiling. Ray could tell he was relieved. God, he was so transparent—she thought demons were supposed to be manipulative shits or something.

“You're really no good in situations like this, are you? I guess you've never gotten a girl pregnant before.”

“I told you, humans aren't supposed to be able to _get_ pregnant with demons,” Zarc said. “And—and don't look at me like that, fuck. Just because I've been alive for like, two hundred years longer than you doesn't mean I slept around like crazy.”

Ray would have had a retort to that normally, but she had a headache. She groaned, leaning down to knead her knuckles into her forehead.

Zarc's hands flapped briefly, as though fumbling for something to do or say.

“Fuck, I don't—I don't even know how human pregnancy works—s-should I get you something? Are you sick? What do I do?”

“Stop panicking, first off,” Ray said. “And second off, just tell me that demon babies don't claw their way out of their mother's stomachs.”

“What?? Why the fuck would they do that??”

Ray rolled her eyes, but she _did_ feel some weight off her shoulders.

“Is there like, anyone I can talk to about this?” she said, waving a hand vaguely. “Demon midwives or something? I just want to make sure this baby's not going to fucking kill me.”

Zarc hesitated, chewing on his lip with one sharp fang.

“You're...you're gonna...keep it then?”

Ray looked up at him. He wasn't quite looking at her, his eyes darting just out of reach of her gaze. She lifted one hand up to her stomach, rubbing it softly—it was definitely bigger than it had been before. She ran her tongue over her lips briefly.

“Do you...not want me to?” she asked, her voice thin.

Zarc jumped then, hands outstretched towards her again.

“That's not it, really,” he said. “I—geez.”

He leaned back on his heels, chewing on his thumbnail. He still wasn't looking at her.

“It's—it's not gonna be a human baby, whatever happens. And I don't even know what the pregnancy is gonna _do_ to you. I...I wouldn't be...upset if you wanted to...stop it before it gets any farther.”

She tilted her head, trying to get him to look at her. He wasn't having it, so she stood up, sliding her hands into his at his side and pressing her body against him lightly.

“I want to know what _you_ want,” she said. “Please. Then I'll tell you what I decided.”

Zarc finally looked at her, his eyes glowing softly like distant street lamps. He reached for her face with his free hand, running his thumb softly against her cheek. She shuddered; his skin always felt so... _odd_ , but it was a pleasant feeling.

“I...I'm not against...having it,” he said. “I mean...it wasn't supposed to happen. But...somehow...”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“It's never happened before, and I never thought I'd...with you...but...if I could...meet our child...”

Ray smiled. God...he was so awkward. Weren't demons supposed to be smooth and suave? She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his, and his lips opened to receive her as she ran her tongue briefly over his fangs, his own cold tongue pressing against her mouth for a moment.

She leaned back from the kiss, breathless, finding his eyes. She squeezed his hand.

“As long as you promise to stay right here beside me,” she said. “I want to meet our child too. Let's make history together, huh?”

He had the kind of pure smile that could light up an entire room, and it seemed, for a moment, to make all her nausea disappear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> solstitium / eclipsim = solstice / eclipse
> 
> I was gonna write more about them going through the pregnancy and actually having the baby but I'm tired and I just want to be caught up lol. I'll 1000% be writing about their baby someday.
> 
> By the way, they named her Hitomi, written 史美, which are the kanji for "history" and "beautiful." (they literally 'made history' it's a joke please laugh)


	5. Lux / Tenebris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: Role Reversal
> 
> He was supposed to get the demon’s soul, and she was supposed to get the goddess’. If only they hadn’t gotten in the way of each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay okay so this is an AU fic in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica universe. It's technically spoilers for my Arc V Magi AU, but at the same time, I probably won't reach the same audience anyway or you'll all forget about this by the time the century where I write that AU actually happens, so it's fine. So anyway, if you don't know about Madoka Magica, this will be just a tad confusing.
> 
> This takes place AFTER the events of Rebellion Story. Waaaaaay after. Ray and Zarc are both Magi, they've already made the contract with Kyubey long before this event.
> 
> The Akaba family consists of Himika, Leo, Ray, Reiji, and Reira, so they're all alive at the same time. Zarc is Yoko and Yusho's oldest son, with Yuya being his little brother. Ray and Zarc are both 19, Reiji is 11, Yuya is 9, and Reira is 6.

Ray pulled his hands away from his jacket, smoothing the lapels for him.

“Stop fidgeting,” she scolded. “You look fine.”

“Was a suit necessary?” he said, grumbling a bit. It was a little tight, and scratchy. He'd had to borrow one of his dad's old ones because he didn't have any, and it was a little ridiculous. Bright red with black lapels, god, why didn't Yusho own anything normal looking? He grabbed for his pendulum, tugging the cord free of his collar so that the necklace could lie neatly against his chest.

“This is a fancy date, remember?” Ray said, shaking her head.

Zarc rolled his eyes.

“I'd rather we just skip the party and watch movies or something,” he said. “We can wear comfier clothes doing that.”

“Oh please, neither of us would be wearing clothes if we sat down to 'watch a movie',” she said, making air quotations.

He laughed, hooking his arms in hers.

“And if this night goes according to plan, we'll both be naked by the end of it,” he teased.

“You can have sex with me _after_ you play nice for a few hours,” she said, smacking him lightly. “Perv.”

She was grinning though, and they _both_ knew that Ray was usually the one to initiate anyway. He just grinned back, then glanced over the room.

The Akaba family really was something, he thought, feeling a little out of place among the marble floors and swooping arches high above them. Rows upon rows of tables with pure white cloths, piled high with tiered trays filled with food, had been set out along the left side of the room, with a massive staircase in the center going up to the rest of the house. Zarc really couldn't believe actual people lived here in all of this space—it wasn't that he hadn't been here before, visiting Ray or tagging along with his dad when he went to talk to Leo about whatever it is they talked about, but it was different seeing it all decked out for a party, with elegant flower arrangements and people everywhere, all in their fine suits and dresses. He _definitely_ felt out of place—there were businesspeople and politicians and celebrities among the guests here tonight. He was just the son of an actor.

Ray, of course, looked resplendent, wearing a beautiful, pale green dress that hugged her figure nicely, trimmed off straight on the bodice with dark green, the ruffles of the skirt running down along the side of her leg in an expanding triangle, as though it had been a slit skirt dress that someone had filled with sparkly green ruffles. She tucked one strand of wayward wine-red hair back behind her ear.

“So, did you get any sleep last night?” she said, her voice lowering to a whisper. “After we finished that witch, I mean.”

“Passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow—means I didn't work on the paper we're supposed to have done in history, of course,” he said. “You?”

“No,” she said, grimacing. “Catch me if I fall asleep in the middle of dancing, will you?”

He laughed, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him.

“I could just sneak you off to your room, you know,” he said. “Get out of here for a while.”

“You know, your parents are here too,” Ray said, pushing his face playfully. “Can you at least wait until they're too drunk to notice we're getting frisky?”

Zarc laughed.

“Knowing my mother, she's already drunk,” he said. “That's probably the only reason she came—she hates being around rich people.”

He hesitated, his mind starting to come up with ideas he'd rather not dwell on.

“God, I hope dad keeps an eye on her,” he mutters. “She'll probably try to cuss out half the people here.”

Ray laughed.

“Good, entertainment,” she said. “That's what your family is best at, isn't it?”

Zarc rolled his eyes, but he smiled too, leaning up against her. Still, he was glad his father had told him he could just focus on Ray tonight—he didn't have to worry about babysitting his drunk mom _or_ Yuya.

“Good evening, oneesan and boyfriend,” a young, clipped voice said. “I see you're already taking a chance to feel up my sister. And in public, no less.”

The voice, of course, belonged to Ray's brat of a younger brother. Zarc rolled his eyes at the quip.

“Don't you have homework to do or something?” he said.

Reiji just stared at him with that unreadable expression of his, fixing his glasses with one finger. Reiji was eleven, but precocious enough to be twice that. Zarc couldn't be in the room for two minutes without him insinuating something inappropriate—not that he was wrong, but it felt _weird_ to have his girlfriend's little brother asking him straight-faced if they had slept together yet.

And of course, wherever Reiji was, the other one was sneaking along behind. Reira poked his head out from behind Reiji, and then disappeared behind him again. All Zarc could see of the six-year-old was his tiny hand curled into Reiji's, and the floppy head of that creepy doll he always carried everywhere. Seriously, it was _freaky—_ it looked like a clown, with a pale white face, two colored eyes, and a blank smile, floppy ribbon arms always dragging along on the floor.

“It's imperative for a member of the Akaba family to be present for at least part of this event,” Reiji said. “So we're making an appearance.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Don't worry, I won't interfere with your baser plots with my sister, as long as she seems to enjoy being a part of them.”

God, what kind of eleven year old talked like that?

“Ray, do I have permission to bully your little brother?” Zarc said.

“You do not,” Ray said, snickering in spite of herself. She smiled at Reiji and Reira though, with a sweet, sparkly smile that made Zarc's heart skip a beat. Ray extracted her arm from Zarc's to kneel down at eye level to her brother, tilting her head around to try and see Reira.

“You doing okay, Reira-kun?” she asked, soothing. “You don't have to come tonight if it's too much for you.”

Reira peeked out just a tiny bit. He shook his head quickly.

“You look pretty, Ray-san,” he mumbled.

Ray smiled, reaching out to pat him on the head.

“And you look very handsome in your suit,” she said.

Reira just ducked his head, looking down and squeezing his doll tighter to his chest. Ray looked a little sad as she stood back up, taking Zarc's hand again. He squeezed it—it wasn't her fault. Reira had been adopted about a year back; Zarc wasn't sure about the details about where he had come from, but he was a twitchy kid, and Ray was always talking about how she wished he would call her “oneesan” instead of “Ray-san.”

“By the way, Reiji, have you seen father? He promised he'd be here today.”

Reiji's lips twitched a bit, and he fixed his glasses again.

“Last I knew, he was still in the lab,” he said.

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Ray said, with more venom than usual. “I swear to _God_...”

“Hey, Ray,” Zarc said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It's okay. Maybe he'll be up later.”

She shook her head, looking furious—this wasn't unusual when it came to her father and his working habits, but Zarc thought maybe she had just hit her limit.

“No, it's not okay! I made him promise he'd be here today—he _still_ hasn't greeted you since I told him we were dating!!”

“It's not like he hasn't met me before,” Zarc said, trying to comfort her. Not that he had ever spent much time with the man, but his father Yusho and Ray's father Leo were good friends, Zarc had sometimes been dragged along to visit when he was a kid, and he had seen Leo and Ray at the rare get-togethers that his father tried to put together.

Ray shook her head, her cheeks actually a little red.

“I'm going to go talk to him,” she said, pushing her handbag at Zarc. “Hold this.”

“Ray, wait,” Zarc said, but she was already starting to shove past him.

“W-wait!!”

It was not the voice any of them expected to hear, and Ray paused, turning around with lips parted.

Reiji stared at Reira, just as surprised as everyone else—Reira wasn't clinging to Reiji's hand like usual, he had hopped forward towards Ray, reaching out to grab her dress in one hand, doll still clutched in the other.

“Y-you shouldn't go down there,” Reira said. “Bebe-chan says—Bebe-chan says it's dangerous. Y-you should stay here.”

Ray stared at Reira with surprise for about the space of a breath. Then she smiled gently, leaning down to put her hands on his shoulders.

“Bebe-chan says that, huh?” she said, patting her brother's doll with one hand. “It's okay, Reira-kun—I'm just going to go talk to papa. I'll be right back, okay?”

“N-neesan,” Reira said, his voice cracking. Ray's eyes widened, and Zarc looked down at the boy quickly, surprised too—that was the first time he had ever heard Reira call Ray his sister. “Please don't go.”

“Ray,” Zarc said, looking at her, feeling a tremor of nervousness in his own chest in spite of himself.

“I'll be fine,” Ray said again, squeezing Reira's shoulders. She wasn't looking at Zarc, but he thought the reassurance might be for him, too. “I'll be right back. _Promise_. Nothing bad's going to happen to your big sister.”

“Ray,” Zarc said again. He didn't know what was happening or why Reira was so intense, but he was getting nervous in spite of himself.

Ray just stood up, and as Reira grabbed for her skirt again, Reiji came up and took him by the shoulders gently. Ray caught Zarc's gaze briefly, and raised her hand at him. It wasn't a wave—she was showing him the ring on her finger, the ring that Zarc knew was a Soul Gem. _Nothing can hurt me_ , she seemed to be saying. _You know that better than most people._

He _did_ know. He had seen her in battle.

Still...he felt... _nervous..._ watching her skirt flounce behind her as she disappeared through the crowd, only her handbag still resting in his fingers.

“Reira, please,” Reiji said, snapping Zarc out of his blank stare where Ray had disappeared. “Reira—!”

“She can't go! She can't go!!” Reira said, his voice rising to almost a shriek. “It's dangerous, it's almost done, she can't go, she can't go, she can't go—”

People were starting to look and Zarc heard whispers spreading as Reira struggled against Reiji's grip, almost bloody screaming. God—what the fuck was wrong with him?

“Hey—hey, kid,” Zarc said, dropping to one knee. “Hey! Settle down. Ray's going to be fine, you hear?”

Reira shook his head wildly.

“Father—father's machine—it's dangerous, Bebe-chan says it's too close to being done, I can hear them _screaming—_ ”

In spite of himself, Zarc felt his blood turning to ice. He glanced back over his shoulder towards where Ray had disappeared, where clumps of people were starting to gather towards the sound of Reira's shrieking voice. He saw Ray's mother, Himika, extracting herself from the crowd and starting to hurry over in her heels, her face a mixture of repressed anger and uncertainty. He saw his father appear next, in a matching ridiculous red suit, squeezing himself free of the whispering crowd to jog over to them

Zarc made up his mind.

Yusho blinked with surprise as Zarc got up and shoved the handbag at him.

“I'm going to grab Ray, take care of Reira,” he said.

“Zarc, where are you—”

But Zarc was already darting into the crowd. Most of them actually parted for him, and he wondered if they thought there was some kind of emergency. Well, no time to explain to people—

“Niisan!”

Zarc halted as Yuya tackled his legs from behind, almost making him keel over.

“Gah! Yuya, not _now—_ ”

Yuya's hands, however, curled around his legs, his fingers digging into the pants.

“Zarc-nii, what's going on?” he said, his voice shaking a little. “I heard screaming.”

Zarc reached down to take Yuya's hands, gently prying them off his legs so he could turn around. His brother was just getting to be above the height of his waist, with gangly legs that indicated he would probably shoot up a few more inches soon. He looked up at Zarc with nervous, shining eyes, his hands wringing in front of him. He looked out of place, the same way that Zarc felt, in yet another bright red suit that was just a little too big for him. God, what had possessed him to agree to let his father put them all in matching suits?

“You should be with mom,” Zarc said, pushing Yuya's bangs out of his face. “Don't worry, everything's okay.”

“I saw Ray-chan running that way,” Yuya said, pointing. “Is something wrong? Is Reira-kun okay?”

“Yeah, he's fine, really,” Zarc said, trying to sound comforting. “Don't worry about it, squirt—your big brother is gonna take care of everything.”

Yuya squinted at him, as though trying to decide if Zarc was just teasing him. Zarc smiled, kneeling down in front of Yuya.

“Look,” he said. “Does your big brother ever lie?”

“All the time,” Yuya said. “You lie about not eating my food. And about being a superhero and stuff.”

Zarc snorted—it was funny because the superhero bit was actually technically true.

“Okay, fair,” he said, squeezing Yuya's shoulders. “But I'm not lying now. I'm gonna take care of you and make sure you're safe, always.”

Yuya bit his lip—he was so tiny. Zarc didn't remember being that tiny. But the way his eyes were watering up with nerves made Zarc feel guilty, like he should be doing something to make his brother less scared.

“I promised I'd always protect you, right?” Zarc whispered. “You remember I said that, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you think I was lying about that?”

Yuya hesitated, then he shook his head.

Zarc squeezed Yuya's shoulders again, smiling. That was one thing he would never lie about—one thing he would never tease or make fun about. He still remembered a tiny, four-year-old Yuya crawling through the door Zarc had forgotten to lock, remembered Yuya patting his hands over the cuts on Zarc's arms and singing the 'ouchie go away' song as quietly as he could while Zarc tried to hide them from Yuya's sight, tried to hide his tears. He remembered the bruises on a seven-year-old Yuya's face and an insistence that they came from falling off the slide at school, the knowing that other kids were hitting Yuya but he didn't have the means to stop it.

He remembered the little white cat creature called Kyubey, sitting on a fence and asking him if he had one wish he'd like granted.

He remembered exactly what he wished for, like it was burned onto his heart. _Give me the strength to protect him._

Zarc smiled again, bumping his forehead against Yuya's like they usually did—it tended to get a laugh out of Yuya, but not today. Right now, he needed to make sure Ray was okay, and he needed to keep Yuya out of—whatever craziness was happening.

“Listen,” he said. “I want you to go back and stay with mom, okay?”

“I want to go where you're going,” Yuya said.

Zarc shook his head.

“Nah. It's gonna be boring,” he said. A thought occurred to him, and he reached up around his neck, pulling the pendulum over his head. He let it swing in between them for a few moments. “If you go by mom and _promise_ to stay with her until I get back, I'll let you wear this til I come back. Deal?”

Yuya stared at the gem, eyes wide. Yuya was probably surprised because Zarc rarely let Yuya touch the necklace. He reached out with tiny fingers to cup it against his palm, then his eyes flickered up to Zarc.

“Promise you'll come back and I'll promise too,” he said.

Zarc smiled, ruffling Yuya's hair.

“Deal,” he said.

“Okay,” Yuya said. “Deal.”

Zarc dropped the cord around Yuya's neck, and Yuya stared down at the pendulum with delight, holding it up to catch the light above. Zarc ruffled his hair.

“Don't worry,” he said. “We're like that pendulum, you know? No matter how far away we swing back, we'll always swing towards each other again.”

He wondered, vaguely, why he was acting so grave all of a sudden, saying things like this. He was just going to get Ray back from shouting at her dad. Maybe Reira's shrieking had spooked him more than he wanted to admit. Or maybe it was the strange feeling of foreboding growing in his chest...the spark in his soul gem around his finger that felt like a ominous prickle...

“I'll be right back,” he said. “Go stand with mom, okay?”

Yuya nodded, then he turned around and ran back through the crowd. Zarc straightened up. He stood still for just a moment longer. Then he turned towards the direction Yuya had said Ray had gone, and pushed the rest of the way through all of the clumps of people, towards the door at the back of the room.

The door was hanging open, and Zarc already knew it led down to the laboratory. He had never been down here before, but he knew where it was. Ray must have come down already. Zarc took the steps two at a time, his heart in his throat for some reason.

He started to realize why as he got closer to the bottom of the stairs.

 _Magic_ , he thought, almost choking on the static in the air. _Lots of it_.

What was happening down there? Zarc's soul gem was getting electrical, its temperature fluctuating back and forth in its ring form against his finger. This was like walking towards a really tough witch barrier. His heart raced. Was there a witch down here? No...no on second thought, it didn't feel much like a witch....

It felt more like another Magi. A very, very _powerful_ Magi. Not him or Ray, that was for sure—it was like, ten of each of them.

Ray's voice finally reached his ears and he knew the bottom of the stairs were close.

“ _I don't understand why this is so much more fucking important to you than the rest of your family—”_

“ _Ray, you shouldn't be down here—”_

“ _I'm not leaving until you either tell me what the fuck is going on, or until you come upstairs with me and say hello to your goddamn family!”_

There was another door at the bottom of the stairs, and Zarc pushed it open. He blinked against the sudden rush of light that flooded the darkened stairwell, the sense of magic getting so strong he could barely think.

When his eyes adjusted, he had to freeze for a moment, just staring.

This room was enormous. But the size wasn't the issue—it was the machine on the other side of it.

Thousands of blinking lights and tangled wires filled the space between two gigantic glass tubes, with some kind of interface and mechanics at the bottom of the tubes, attaching them together as one machine. They were like...giant test tubes on a stand next to each other.

They were where the magical signature was coming from.

The one on the left glowed with a pulsing, soft edged white light. It swirled in the center as though a small star was held inside. Every now and then, the light ghosted upwards a bit in layers, looking a bit like...like an imprint of wings, white and feathered against the background, but then they disappeared. Zarc felt his Soul Gem relax when he looked at that light, a strange wash of calm and peace coming over him. He almost felt like...falling asleep...it was the kind of feeling that...that he was completely, utterly safe. There was nothing to be afraid of as long as he looked at that light.

Ray's distance voice dragged him free of staring at the light, and then his eyes flickered to the other tube.

This one made his stomach twist to look at—it seemed to be filled up with some strange, black, oily liquid, with technicolor bubbles in between layers of black. He felt sick, bile rising up in his throat as he saw the liquid swish around inside, bubbling up as though it were boiling.

“I don't—Zarc, what are you doing down here?”

Zarc tore his eyes away from the other one, too, finding Ray staring at him. He crossed the space quickly, reaching for her hands.

“Reira was really losing it, I just—I had to make sure you were okay—”

She reached back for him, but before their hands could touch, the other person in the room shouted.

“Don't _touch_ her!”

Zarc flinched, his hands frozen in the air. He glanced quickly over to his left, where Leo Akaba stood, glaring at Zarc with such rage that Zarc almost wanted to step back. He held his ground though—he hadn't don anything wrong, what the fuck??

“Dad!” Ray said, sounding mortified. “What has gotten _into_ you??”

“Ray, get over here, you shouldn't be near him,” Leo said.

“I'm not moving, dad,” Ray said. “What is _wrong_ with you??”

“What did I do?” Zarc said, drawing back a little. “What is going on?”

Leo looked—haggard, Zarc thought, his eyes a little wild. He ran a hand through his balding hair, streaked with gray. He looked far older than the last time Zarc had seen him, which hadn't been _that_ long ago.

“You are not safe,” Leo said. “You're the host for the other one, you're not safe for my daughter, you get away from her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Zarc said.

The door squeaked a bit as it opened again—Zarc glanced quickly over, his stomach dropping as he saw his father appear, face furrowed with confusion. He hesitated a moment in the doorway, looking between Ray, Zarc, and Leo. Himika appeared then, though, making Yusho step forward to let her through.

“My god,” Himika said, looking up at the machine. “What have you been _doing_ down here?”

Ray was shaking, so badly that Zarc thought she was going to fall over on her tall heels. He reached for her waist to steady her.

“I said don't touch her!” Leo spat, almost lunging forward at him. Zarc flinched—but Yusho moved first, getting himself in between Leo and Zarc. Yusho held his hands up in a soothing, peaceful gesture.

“Leo,” he said, his voice low, as though he were talking to a mad dog rather than a human being. “Leo, calm down. You've been down here a long time with your research. Just calm down.”

“No!” Leo shouted. “None of you understand—none of you understand what I'm trying to here. I'm trying to save the universe.”

“You're going _crazy_ , dad!” Ray shouted, pushing back against Zarc's hands her waist. She was still shaking—she was going to start crying in a moment. “What the fuck are you even doing down here?”

“Just step away from him, Ray, please, I'm begging you, you don't understand,” Leo said, his voice cracking.

“Leo, please,” Yusho said.

“What are you going _on_ about?” Himika said, her voice almost shrieking herself.

Zarc's head spun, heart pounding. He didn't know what was going on, he couldn't even keep track of all the voices. Ray's hands fell on top of his suddenly, squeezing. He hadn't realized that he had begun to shake too.

“Can you feel it?” Ray mumbled. “The magic?”

“Yes,” Zarc whispered back. “It's—it's from in there. In those machines.”

Ray nodded, her eyes wide, face pale.

“Yusho, you don't get it, you have no idea what monster your son really is, he doesn't even understand yet—”

“Leo, that's enough! I won't stand here and listen to you talk about my son that way!”

“Leo, explain what the hell is going on here! We have an _event_ going on and you're standing here screaming at our friends!”

Zarc was so dizzy that he only barely noticed the door opening again, with Reiji and Reira slipping through. He had to do a double take, fingers digging into Ray's hips. She hesitated, and then looked across. Her mouth dropped open.

“They shouldn't be here,” she said. “I have to get them back upstairs.”

She tried to pull free of Zarc, but he—he didn't want to let her go, he had to hang on to her, his throat was dry and he couldn't think past the spinning in his head.

“They won't stop screaming,” he heard Reira cry. “Niisan, they won't stop, you have to stop it, you have to make it stop—”

“The universe is broken,” Leo was shouting. “It's broken and I'm trying to fix it! But if _he_ takes on that power, he'll rip it to pieces again!”

“Listen to yourself, Leo, you sound like a lunatic,” Yusho shouted back.

“Ray, get away from him, please, he's not _safe_!”

“You don't even pay attention to me anymore, what the fuck would you know?” Ray shouted back, distracting by the commotion.

“Just tell me what the fuck I did??” Zarc shouted too, feeling his own head pulse with anger—or maybe it was with the horrible pressure of magic in the room, he couldn't tell.

It was just shouting—shouting and shouting and Zarc wasn't sure even what he was shouting about anymore—

And then all at once, the pressure disappeared.

He gasped, snapping back to himself. The room seemed—clearer, all of a sudden. Like he had just wiped a film off of his eyes. A brief silence filled the room, and he realized at about the same time as everyone else did what they were looking at.

Reiji stood by the machine, heaving heavy breaths, his hand mashed over what appeared to be a manual shut down button. He looked a little flushed, glasses slipping down his nose.

“Okay,” he said, his voice sounding much calmer than he looked, and Zarc realized all at once that he was only barely keeping his composure. Realized all at once how _young_ he was. “Maybe, with this turned off, we can all talk calmly.”

For a moment, no one spoke, or moved.

Zarc felt Ray relax under his fingers. She let out a huge breath, one hand reaching up to shove her bangs from her eyes. Her mouth opened, face looking much calmer.

Then Zarc saw the tube with the white light inside crack.

It happened in slow motion for him. The cracks spread, hair-thin at first, like a spiderweb, and then bigger, thicker, and—

Ray noticed it too.

“ _REIJI!_ ” she screamed.

Reiji's head whipped around too late. The glass shattered. Reiji screamed, throwing his hands up in front of his eyes as it rained down over him in an explosive wave. Ray scrambled forward, hands outstretched, but her heel snapped under her—she stumbled.

Zarc's eyes locked on the white light inside but it was—it was escaping and it was shooting right for—

“Ray!” he screamed, grabbing her by the shoulder and flinging her out of the way.

She hadn't even hit the ground before the white light stabbed Zarc right through the chest.

For a moment, he didn't feel any pain. He didn't even feel the impact of hitting the ground.

And then everything _burned_.

He might have screamed, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't hear for the hallucinations that enveloped him all at once.

He was standing on a broken landscape, whispering a name he didn't know _“I'm sorry, Homura, but I'm going to become a magical girl.”_ He saw a billion sights all at once, things he couldn't comprehend at the same time—a thousand worlds and times and places and peoples, he saw his own hands—or someone else's, but they were from his point of view—reaching out to a blackened Soul Gem, the Gem turning to light and disappearing somewhere within him.

His back burned, he felt his skin bulging and—wings exploded from him, huge and white, spread-eagled out behind him on the ground. He couldn't move—could barely breathe.

Memories that weren't his fought for space in his brain along with what was happening in front of him. He heard Ray screaming his name, felt her hands fumbling for his throat to see his pulse—he saw the other tube shattering as though from far away, saw the liquid ooze out like a living thing—it was coming for _him_ , he could feel it, but—

But Ray was bent over him, in the way—

The liquid stabbed her through the back and her eyes bulged. She landed heavily on top of him, for a moment, completely unmoving. He wanted to scream her name—but her name wasn't the one that came out.

“ _Homura,”_ he whispered—not his voice, someone else's, cracking with fear and emotion as he fumbled for Ray's body. _“Homura.”_

The presence in his head was _overwhelming_. He could hardly breathe for it. It was like a harsh, white light filled him up, blotting out anything of his own. He couldn't think.

All at once, the light drew back, condensed at the back of his head, trying to pull itself in.

 _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry_ , a soft, scared, female voice echoed in his head. _I'm sorry, I don't want to do this, I don't mean to take over, I'm so sorry—_

Ray jolted on top of Zarc, sitting straight up. Her back bulged for a moment, too—and then the back of her dress shredded open, black wings exploding from her skin. For a second, she just sat there, breathing hard as she stared at the ceiling.

Red. Her eyes were red.

“Ray,” Zarc whispered, able to speak with the light no longer enveloping him.

Ray's eyes swept towards him.

Before he knew what was happening, her hands were latched around his throat, straddling him—tears rolling from her eyes and dripping against his face.

“Why wouldn't you just let me protect you?” she screamed—it wasn't Ray's voice, it wasn't hers at all. It sounded younger, more fragile. “Madoka!”

All at once, the light in Zarc's head grew again, and he saw his body as though from a distance, grabbing Ray's hands and flinging them off of his throat, pushing Ray off of him. She rolled against the ground as he stumbled to his feet.

“Homura!” his own lips shouted, with another voice. “Homura, please, we can't use them like this—we can't do this to them, they don't know what's happening—”

“I said I would do anything for you, Madoka,” Ray said, a voice that wasn't hers, either. “I said I would do whatever it took to make a world where you were happy! If I have to use this human for that then I'll—”

Ray's eyes flickered back to violet, and her hands shot to her head, moaning as she gripped her temples.

“Zarc,” she whispered. One hand reached for him, fingers shaking. “Zarc—Zarc. I don't—I don't want to do this.”

The light tried to pull back from Zarc, releasing his own voice—but it was having trouble keeping itself contained, he could feel the light leaking through him in spite of itself. He couldn't hold it back.

He couldn't hold _Madoka_ back.

“I can't fight her,” Ray whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “Zarc—Zarc, I can't fight her. I can't hold her back.”

Zarc shook his head.

“I—I can't hold her back either,” he mumbled. “And she's not even trying...”

Ray sobbed, her eyes screwing shut.

“She wants to destroy everything, Zarc, she wants to rip the world to pieces,” she cried, her voice thick and cracking. “I don't—I don't want this.”

Zarc couldn't breathe, the light was starting to overtake him again. Madoka was trying, but she couldn't not take over, she was too powerful, too overwhelming.

He staggered towards Ray, dropping to his knees in front of her. He reached for her face, making her eyes open. Still violet—still a beautiful, pure lavender.

“I'll do you if you do me,” he whispered.

Ray's eyes widened briefly. Then she bit back a sob, and nodded.

Her palm slid upwards, pressed against his for a moment. Then she turned it upwards, and her Soul Gem swirled to life in the palm of her hand. Zarc turned his opposite hand up, his own Soul Gem changing from ring form to Gem form. He set it down on the floor beside them where they knelt.

Ray was shaking, so badly that he thought she might fall. He gripped her face in his hands again, pressing his forehead to hers.

Her short knife appeared in her hand at her call, and his blade at his call. He angled the blade over Ray's Soul Gem, feeling a tightness in his throat.

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you,” she said, closing her eyes with a sob.

Zarc closed his eyes, trying to focus on the feeling of Ray's forehead against his, her hand pressed to his face, the feeling of her breath against his lips. Madoka was silent at the back of his head—she wasn't going to stop him from ending this. From the way that Ray trembled and jolted slightly, he had a feeling that the one in her head, the Homura, was taking to this less kindly.

He tightened his grip on his blade.

There was more he wanted to say—more he wanted to do. There wasn't enough time.

He raised his blade over Ray's Soul Gem.

“On three,” he whispered. She nodded.

“One,” she whispered.

“Two,” he said.

“Three,” they said at once, their blades coming down on top of each other's Soul Gem at once.

He heard a pair of screams echo between them—his and Ray's, or Madoka's and Homura's?

And then the entire world went white and everything shattered—

And everything ended.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lux / tenebris = light / shadow
> 
> so in case it wasn't obvious, the "role reversal" here is that Zarc was SUPPOSED to host Homura's soul (since she's the demon) and Ray was SUPPOSED to host Madoka (the goddess). But since Zarc pulled Ray out of the way, and then Ray got in between him and Homura's soul...they switched souls.
> 
> There's a fuck ton more to this AU but this is the only real bit that's ZarcRay since Zarc and Ray are dead(ish) after this lol.


	6. Eques / Draco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not like they're really keeping it a secret, but no one would actually guess that inches-from-being-expelled Zarc and top-of-her-class-and-archery-captain Ray were banging on the regular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -lying face down on the floor- someone kill me for this, i'm disappointed in myself oh my god i hate these two so fucking much i h a t e them but mostly i hate me for this absolutely horrible porno and the things that i made come out of Zarc's mouth
> 
> anyway this is just smut, that's literally all it is, not a lick of plot, it's just a bad porno. enjoy it this is probably the only smut you'll ever see me post in public view ever again excuse me while i go laugh my fucking ass off at how TERRIBLE this is
> 
> by the way although the setting is high school they're both seniors and they're both 18 so don't anyone go off at me for writing underage, ya nasties

Ray let the arrow fly.

It sunk neatly into the center of the bulls-eye—well, not perfectly, a little bit off to the side. She was off her mark today.

“What, that wasn't close enough to the bulls-eye for ya?”

Ray huffed softly, raising an eyebrow as she turned around. He was here, of course, lounging on the bench in the back of the archery team's club space. His jacket was, as always, unbuttoned, ruffled dress shirt untucked with the top two buttons popped open so that Ray could see the punk choker he was wearing. He had one foot balanced up on the edge of the bench, his elbow resting against his knee as he leaned back to pop open his soda. He was such a fucking try-hard.

Zarc grinned at her with that sharp-toothed smile of his, taking a swig of his soda like it was beer. It probably would be liquor if he wasn't already on probation for smoking on campus—even the wannabe thug didn't want to get expelled over something stupid.

“Just a hair,” she said, lowering her bow.

“Oh man,” Zarc said. “Are we gonna see the archery team go downhill? Captain is off her mark? I can hear the gossip now.”

“Shut up,” she said, but she smiled.

She shrugged her quiver off and padded back up onto the raised floor, her sandals clicking softly against the wood. Zarc didn't stop smiling as she approached him, leaning over him and pressing one hand to the wall to pin him in, her face coming down inches from his.

“I think the gossip you should be worrying about is what resident gang leader Zarc is doing in the archery club room after school,” she said. “Is he making illicit drug deals, hm?”

Zarc laughed, putting his soda aside so that he could wrap his arms around the back of her neck, pulling him closer to her so that their lips were almost touching.

“Or maybe he's banging the captain of the archery team on field,” he said. “I've got an arrow in my pants right now for a certain bulls-eye of yours.”

“That was _literally_ the worst thing I have ever heard anyone say, and I spend a remarkable amount of time listening to you,” Ray said.

“You laughed, though,” he said, grinning.

“I fucking did _not_.”

“You're smiling, look at you! You thought it was funny!”

Ray decided the best way to shut him up was to kiss him, so that's what she did. Her tongue pushed into his mouth, making him hesitate for a moment before he met her ferocity with his own. His hands slid up her back as she leaned back into him, his head pressing into the back of the wall with her hands in his hair, one sliding down to the back of his neck to press him into her kiss more firmly. He broke off a bit, moaning as her knee came in between his legs and started to rub gently against his crotch.

“A-are we really doing this here, cause I was kind of joking,” he said, his voice halting a bit.

She pulled back, reducing her grip so that he could pull away if he needed to, finding his eyes inches from hers.

“Should I stop?” she said.

“I mean—”

His face was a little flushed and she felt hot seeing the way he chewed nervously on his lip. Finally, his hesitance melted and he sighed, smiling again.

“No,” he finally said, his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her up into his lap. “Unless you think someone's gonna—walk in on us. I love you, but _not_ enough to do it in front of people.”

“It's just us. I sent the team home early.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and grinned, nose brushing his.

“Want me to lock the door, make sure?”

“I don't think I want to let you get off of me for that long,” he said.

“Good, because I don't want to get up,” Ray said, and then she pressed her lips over his again and his hands dug into her waist as she straddled him on the bench, her baggy archery pants pooling over his lap.

He moaned softly as her lips moved down to his jaw and then his neck, kissing along the top of his choker. She wanted to just rip it off of him so that she could nip at his skin, but he'd probably get mad at her after for ruining his choker again, so she held back. His skin shuddered slightly under the touch, and she was glad then for his poser fashion style, because the top two buttons of his shirt were already out of the way so she could get at his collarbone, kissing along it to make him squirm. She popped the next few buttons so that she could trail kisses down the middle of his ribs, getting delicious gasps from him in response.

He was too easy to tease, squirming a bit under her lips as he moaned softly, his hands knotting into her hair. She pushed her hand in between his legs, rubbing at the bulge that was already there.

“You're so anxious,” she mumbled.

“Don't say that like you're not,” he groaned back, grinning through his flush.

He wasn't exactly wrong, and her body thrummed with anticipation as she flicked the zipper of his pants, teasing him by rubbing the heel of her palm into his crotch as he squirmed into her hand.

“Fuck,” he groaned, pushing into her touch. “Do I have to take my pants off _for_ you, or are you going to keep teasing me?”

“You shouldn't have made it so easy for me to pin you down if you wanted this to go fast,” Ray laughed. She leaned in to nip at his ear and he grunted. Her hand moved up off of his crotch again, but his hand wrapped around her wrist, pulling it back down there again and she had to laugh at how easy he was to get all hot and bothered.

He didn't move to try and change their positions, despite his complaints, so Ray massaged him through his pants for a few more seconds, then she finally went for his zipper and eased it open. He had to press up against the wall so that she could wriggle his pants down enough to get to his cock, and he gasped as she traced light down the length of it, his hands tightening around the back of her neck. She knew exactly how to make him squirm, and he almost choked as she wrapped her fingers lightly around his shaft, squeezing and rubbing just so.

“Fuck,” he gasped again. “You are a fucking—tease, bitch.”

“And you're a horny slut, so we're even,” Ray said, biting down hard on her lip to try and bite back her own sounds. Just watching him was getting her hot and ugh—

“I hate you,” he muttered, but it was cut off as she began to actually massage his cock for real and he had to gasp, fingers digging into her back.

“Love you too,” she quipped. She pushed her ponytail back over her shoulder from where it had slipped back. He moaned, leaning into her hand as she pumped his cock against her palm, getting sweaty from the sounds he was making.

There was always a point where he just kind of broke, and Ray was ready for it when his hands fumbled for the ties of her archery uniform, dropping her baggy pants into a puddle on the floor and getting his hands up under her shirt. He pulled her against him, one hand sliding cool up her skin and cupping one breast, massaging it so that she was starting to pant a little too from the feeling of his fingers on her.

“Get over here,” he growled, dragging her into his lap again, her panties rubbing against his hard cock. He claimed her lips in a deep, bruising kiss, and she returned it with as much ferocity as she could muster. Her hands moved back to untie the last of her archery uniform so that the shirt hung open, giving him easier access to her neck.

“Ahh,” she gasped as his teeth nicked at the hollow of her throat, her fingers digging into his shoulders. “Fuck, now who's the tease.”

“You were asking for it,” he laughed into her skin.

She swore again as he kissed her breasts, his tongue swirling around one nipple and making her back arch.

“Ugh, Zarc, _please_ ,” she said. “Oh god, please—”

“Now who's getting horny?” Zarc said, faking a roll of his eyes. But he shifted her up, his hand rolling against her clit through her underwear, making her curl up over him with her fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket.

“Fuck,” she mumbled. “Fuuuck.”

“If you really insist,” Zarc said, and she smacked him on the shoulder for the joke. But then he was wiggling her underwear off of her, stroking the end of his cock against her and she had to curl up over him, hands sliding over his shoulders for support as gravity eased her down onto his cock, moaning at the length threading into her.

His soft gasps and moans just made her even dizzier with the heat of it all, as she lifted up a bit and then back down to drag herself up and down his cock. His fingers were bruising under her ribs but she barely felt it, she was just—ugh—the knot in her lower region was getting so thick and she just wanted it to—

Zarc finished first, but Ray wasn't far behind, collapsing on top of him with her head on his shoulder, hair fluttering back over her shoulders and into his face. He hugged her to him, shaking slightly, and Ray had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to hold them up for long.

She groaned as she slid up and off of him. He gripped her hand as she tried to stand, shaking a bit.

“Fuck,” she groaned, throwing her hair back over her shoulder. “I'm a mess.”

“You started it,” Zarc said, grinning at her with his head resting against the back wall.

She gave him a half-hearted middle finger, sticking her tongue out at him through her teeth.

“I'm going to shower before we go,” she said. “I'm a sweaty mess.”

“You could pass it off as working _really_ hard for the competition next week?”

“Yeah, and what's your excuse, sweat-ball?”

“Oh~ is that an invitation to join you?”

She yanked on his elbow to make him stand up too, crashing her lips against his again. When she broke off, they were grinning at each other, with matching flushed faces.

“It's always an invitation, you nerd,” she said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eques / draco = knight / dragon


	7. Vitae / Mortem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray and Zarc are popular Let's Players and today, Ray is making Zarc play Resident Evil 7. Reiji, however, has something very important that he needs to interrupt them with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> same deal as from the madoka magica au chapter, Ray is a living part of the Akaba family, and Zarc is part of the Sakaki family. Ray and Zarc are both 20 in this chapter, while Reiji is 14.

“I would like you to know,” Reiji's dry voice floated in through the door, “that I blame you and your boyfriend for this.”

Ray almost didn't hear him, she was too focused on the screen, and on Zarc, who was inches from throwing her very expensive controller through her very expensive computer screen. Next time they did one of these sessions, she would make him bring _his_ controller and laptop. Or they'd just go to his house, but then again, his gaming situation was the most cringe inducing, potentially fire-hazardous mess of cords and tangled wires that made her flinch just to look at.

“No, okay, god—Zarc, it's just like Call of Duty, just shoot it in the head.”

“I _HAVE_ been shooting it in the goddamn head!” Zarc said, mashing the buttons so loudly that their recording was picking it up.

The moldy monster on screen just kinda kept lurching towards Zarc's character as he almost immediately wasted his entire clip of shotgun bullets—at least the viewers would think it was funny, Ray was just _annoyed_.

The door cracked open, letting in a flood of light.

Zarc actually screamed at the sound, throwing the controller into the air. Ray swore and jumped up, snatching it before it could hit the ground. She pulled it into her own hands, switched her weapon to the shotgun, and took out the Molded with two quick headshots.

Zarc's hands were frozen in midair, his mouth wide open, as she shoved the controller back into his hands.

“Oh my god, it's a video game,” she said. “Keep going, the dog head you need to open the door should be in the next room—Reiji, what the fuck, didn't you see the 'recording, do not disturb sign??'”

Reiji didn't seem in the least perturbed by Ray's irritation. He held his phone screen out so that it glowed in the middle of the otherwise dark room, and Ray had to squint—they had been playing Resident Evil 7 in the dark for about four hours. It was funnier to watch Zarc's reactions when all the lights were out.

“What is this?” she said, taking the phone out of his hands to look at the screen.

It appeared to be a screencap of one of her and Zarc's let's plays, only, they were viciously making out, with Reiji framed behind them with his head in his hands. It was labeled with the iconic blocky meme font reading “#SaveHim.”

“This is because you made me fill in during your stupid Mario Party game,” Reiji said. “Neesan, there is an entire subreddit devoted to this just labeled /r/save_reiji_akaba.”

Ray had to cover her mouth to hide the actual snort that just rolled out of her. Oh my god, she had forgotten about that; the Mario Party series had been finished a few weeks ago.

“This isn't funny, neesan, people are going to find this when I start looking for jobs.”

“Well you're not naked, doing drugs, or drinking beer in any of these pictures so I don't think it's going to make that big of a difference, squirt.”

“Ray, the dog face thing is just—hanging in the middle of the room, is this a trap? Is it going to be a jump scare?”

“This is _not funny_ ,” Reiji insisted, looking actually a little heated—which was out of the norm for her little brother. “I'm serious—I don't want to participate in your streams anymore.”

Oh my god, these were hilarious—how hadn't she seen these already? Ray scrolled down a bit, finding another one of her and Zarc kissing each other over Reiji's head with him just ducking as though to get out of the way, his glasses askew, with another panel close up on his blurry face labeled “end the suffering.”

She snorted again—oh my god, these were _gold_ , she was going to have to look this up and do a reaction video on it.

“Ray,” Zarc said again. “Ray, I'm serious, you have to tell me if something's gonna happen when I grab this thing.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, handing the phone back to Reiji. “And fine, Reiji, you don't have to be in the streams anymore—I guess I'll just have to ask Yuya-kun to come over and play with us sometime.”

Reiji's eyes actually bulged a bit, his face going beet red, and Ray flashed him a toothy grin.

“Ray—” he started.

“No, no, it's fine, really, you don't have to play with us anymore, now we're really recording right now so if you could—”

Reiji spluttered a bit in protest as she steered him back out into the hallway, closed the door, and locked it behind her.

Zarc actually shrieked behind her and she jumped.

“Oh _my god you piece of shit just kicked me down into the fucking garage I knew it I knew it I knew it obvious bait was fucking obvious—_ ”

Ray let out another snort through her lips to hear Zarc mashing his buttons like hell behind her, hopping back into the seat beside him to sit backwards on her chair.

“So yeah, this is why you shouldn't have used up all your bullets,” she said.

“Ray, he has _FUCKING CHAINSAW SCISSORS WHAT DO I DO??_ ”

“Get the _other_ chainsaw, you dumbass, there's two of them!”

Zarc yanked the controller back and forth as though somehow, that was going to make him be better at this fight. Ray just leaned her chin on the back of her chair and grinned—well, this episode was going to be at least a few rounds of this, cause the way Zarc was flailing there was no way he was going to finish him off this go.

“Ray, please tell me he's dead after this, please tell me this is the last time I have to fight him _PLEASE_.”

“No spoilers,” Ray said.

“ _THAT MEANS HE COMES BACK DOESN'T IT—_ oh what the FUCK oh my god he—he ran me over what the _fuck_ who programmed that fucking car in here!!!!”

“Want me to do it for you?” Ray teased.

“No, fuck off,” Zarc growled, as he clicked through the game over screen. “I hate you for making me play this.”

“Love you too baby,” Ray said with a giggle.

She wondered if there were any subreddits about the two of them—hm. She'd have to take a look after this session.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vitae / mortem = life / death
> 
> also i mean, if someone wants to draw the reiji memes, i would feel blessed. just saying


	8. Principium / Finis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he doesn't quite remember anything, but he knows that he remembers her somehow. and it seems like maybe she remembers him.

Just for a breath, there are memories.

They're loud, hot things, clamoring against the sides of his head, echoes of screaming and broken record laughing, explosions and fire and heat and something boiling, bubbling up under his cracked gray skin as he just couldn't stop laughing even while the tears bubbled up down and over his eyes and the feeling of rocking, pulsing power that made him dizzy and screaming with it—

And then, the breath passes.

“Hey—hey there, it's okay, you're all right. Can you look at me? That's it...that's it.”

It's _his_ voice, he thinks for a minute. But no...it's not coming from his lips or his throat, so it can't be.

He opens his eyes.

The boy in front of him is much taller than he is. For a moment, this seems wrong. _He_ should be the tall one. But the feeling passes, and the boy smiles at him—it's a dazzling thing, something that makes his heart skip a beat.

“That's it,” he soothes, his hands enveloping his own much smaller ones. “Welcome back.”

There are words stuck in his throat but he doesn't know how to get them out. He feels a little too small—or not, maybe this is natural. After another beat, it does feel natural. Something is disappearing from him, but it feels...okay. He's forgotten something—a lot of somethings. But...but it feels all right. The boy's smile makes it feel like it might be okay to forget.

“Where am I?” he whispers, and his voice is smaller than he remembers—or no, maybe it's right. He can't remember. “Who are you?”

The boy smiles again, that bright, dazzling, warming thing that makes his heart and chest relax.

“My name is Yuya,” he says. That sounds familiar. But maybe it isn't. “And you're all right. You're exactly where you're supposed to be.”

Yuya smiles at him, and he slowly, tentatively, smiles back. He puts a hand on his forehead, trying to rub away the uncertainties. It takes him a moment to realize something else that he's forgetting.

“Who am _I_?” he whispers—this is the first thing that makes his heart clench, makes him think—why don't I know?

Yuya squeezes his hands—his hands are so tiny compared to Yuya's. He feels like his hands should be bigger. Or maybe not.

“You're Zarc, remember?” Yuya says. “You've been sleeping for a long time, so it makes sense that you might forget.”

“Z...Zarc,” he whispers. Yes, that—that feels right. His name is Zarc.

Yuya stands up, still holding one of his hands.

“Are you feeling okay?” he says.

Zarc's head is a little wobbly still, but the rest of him feels all right.

“I think so,” he says. “Why?”

Yuya smiles at him.

“Because there's someone you should meet,” he says.

Someone he should meet? Even when he doesn't remember anything? What does that mean?

But Yuya's smile is a thing that Zarc knows that he can trust—it's one of the only things that he knows, for sure, is something that's supposed to be there. Yuya and his smile are good things, things that he thinks he remembers from somewhere.

Yuya's hand squeezes Zarc's, and he gently leads him down from what appears to be...some kind of...circus dueling stage? Zarc's heart flutters. Dueling, he remembers. He remembers...something important about dueling. Something that makes him want to smile.

Yuya hops down off the stage, then turns around to lift Zarc under the shoulders, helping him down. Zarc steadies himself, clinging to Yuya's hand.

“She really wants to see you,” Yuya says. “She's been waiting for you for a long time.”

Huh? Who?

Zarc looks back and forth, searching, still clinging to Yuya's hand like he's his big brother or something.

And then...

Then he sees her.

He sees the older girl first, the one that looks about the same age as Yuya, with her pink hair in pigtails. Pigtails—those are familiar. But no, it's not her, it's not her that Yuya wants him to meet, and Zarc knows it as soon as he sees the other girl.

She's the same height as him, and she looks little, like maybe six or seven. She clings to the older girl's hand the way he clings to Yuya's. Her dark red-brown hair is in long, fluffy pigtails down her shoulders, and she's chewing on her lip, sparkly violet eyes staring right at Zarc.

He remembers her.

But he's not really sure why.

He doesn't realize that he's crying until Yuya kneels down and wipes the tear away.

“Go on,” he says. “Say hello, Zarc.”

Zarc tightens his grip briefly on Yuya's hand, and he sees the little girl hesitate too.

And then, he lets go, and steps forward.

She drops the older girl's hand, and bolts towards him. Her arms are thrown around his shoulders all at once, and he almost falls—he would have fallen right over if Yuya hadn't caught them both, pushing him up by his back.

She's crying into his shoulder and he feels like he should know why they're both crying, but he's not really sure. He just hugs her back—he missed her. He doesn't know her, but he...he missed her. He missed her so much that his heart feels like it's about to burst.

The girl quickly hops back then, and he wishes she was still hugging him. It feels cold where her arms were before.

“I'm sorry,” she mumbles. “I don't know why I did that.”

“I'm sorry too,” Zarc says, and for some reason, he feels like he's been waiting to apologize for a really long time.

For a moment, they just stand there, staring at the floor, not looking at each other. Zarc feels like he needs to say something. There's something at the back of his throat, something that he feels like he needed to say a long time ago, but he doesn't remember what it is.

So instead, he looks up, and he holds out his hand.

“My name is Zarc,” he says.

She looks up, her bangs bouncing over her eyes. For a moment, she just stares at his hand.

And then a smile even more dazzling than Yuya's spreads over her face, and her hand reaches up to grab his back.

“I'm Ray,” she says. “It's nice to meet you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> principium / finis = beginning / ending
> 
> this was such a fun week i hope you guys all enjoyed everything that everyone made for it!!


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